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Adult criminal courts in Canada completed over 390,000 cases in 2008/2009, involving more than one million charges. The number of cases was unchanged from the previous year, but about 3% higher than in 2006/2007. Before then, criminal court caseloads had been declining for a period of four years.
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The amount of time it takes to dispose of a case in adult criminal courts declined recently. In 2000/2001, the median elapsed time for a case to reach completion in the 10 reporting jurisdictions was 101 days, and in 2004/2005 it peaked at 128 days. By 2008/2009, the median fell slightly to 124 days.1
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Certain types of cases take longer to process than others, typically those with added complexities, such as multiple charges in a case, serious offences, trials, and the failure of accused persons to make scheduled appearances. For instance, cases involving a trial had twice the median elapsed time (255 days) of those cases where there was no trial (113 days).
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In 2008/2009, the accused person was found guilty in two-thirds (66%) of cases, and 3% of cases resulted in an acquittal. Most of the remaining cases were either stayed, withdrawn, dismissed or discharged.
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A term of probation, which is frequently given in combination with other sanctions, was the most frequently imposed sanction (45% of guilty cases). A term of imprisonment was imposed in 34% of cases, and a fine was given in 30% of cases.
Note
1. Data cover the 10 jurisdictions consistently reporting to the survey since 2000/2001. Excluded are Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
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